From the Mailbag:

I am a 60 year old "Novus Ordo" Catholic who discovered Tradition a few years back. I try to attend the Latin Mass exclusively now.

I have two questions:

How do I go about "unlearning" all the falsehoods and I had held as truths for 50 years?

Also, I am sick about the current crisis in the Church. But I don't know who to listen to: Sedevacantists? SSPX? SSPX Resistance? FSSP? Diocesan priests who say the Latin Mass? There are so many "Traditional" voices in conflict with each other - they all can't be right.

Thank you so much for your time.

Sincerely,

First, there are things certain, and things mysterious. Much relating to the Crisis is in the category of "the mysterious" because we can't see into the mind of God. For example, how did the Crisis happen? How will it be solved? Etc.

So it's all a question of prudence: what is safe, what is Catholic, how best to keep the Catholic Faith.

That leads me to the next point: what is CERTAIN:

1. We must stay Catholic, and die a Catholic in the state of grace.  We are still on this earth ONLY to know, love, and serve God (pass the test) and get to Heaven.

2. The Novus Ordo is an obstacle to this. Look at the statistics at how many people lose the Faith in that milieu. We can't count ourselves strong where others failed -- that would be tempting God. So we can't place ourselves in a situation where error might deceive us. That's why it's forbidden to attend Protestant services.

3. So we have to be some kind of Traditional Catholic. That is to say, join the widespread, edifying group of Catholics who left the Novus Ordo forever, and seek out priests and chapels where the Tridentine Mass (the Mass of All Times) is said.

4. Beyond that, it's up to you. It depends on your options in your area. Keep your common sense. Listen to your instincts. Become well informed, and then follow your well-formed virtue of Prudence as to where you should take your family.

5. The issue of Sedevacantism is not as cut-and-dried as the Sedevacantists would have you believe. I personally believe the Archbishop (Lefebvre) was providential in helping thousands to keep the Faith, so I follow his path and his prudence. I used to strongly support the SSPX, until it became clear to me that Bishop Fellay was animated by a different spirit (the spirit of the world) and has great pride and ambition. If you doubt me, just read the "Letter of the One to the Three" to see Bishop Fellay's own words for yourself. I therefore went where the true SSPX went -- that is to say, the Resistance. But I wouldn't say you couldn't keep your Faith (for now) in the SSPX -- just be darn careful. They might frog-boil you right into a FSSP/Indult like situation.

But when it comes to issues like Sedevacantism, NO ONE CAN SAY with 100% certainty that they are right. God didn't leave us an exact instruction manual.

However, going back to my original point, God DID make it eminently clear why we are here on earth: to know, love and serve Him in this world, and be happy with Him in the next. We must save our souls, Crisis or no Crisis. My whole life has taken place since the Crisis began. My parents met at a Traditional Catholic book publisher (TAN Books). So their whole family, plus mine, have been started since the Crisis began. Life goes on. We need to attend Mass every Sunday if possible, live the Catholic Faith, pass on the Faith to our kids, etc. We can't wait until the Crisis to be over.

That's why we all exist in these lifeboats (the Traditional movement). The problems begin when we start to confuse our lifeboats with the Church we left. They are part of the Church, to be sure, but they are not the Church. No layman can pontificate from his lifeboat about why all the other lifeboats are "wrong", unless he can give clear evidence from Catholic Doctrine/Tradition that this or that position is erroneous.

But many points have NOT been decided on by the Church Magisterium.

Long story short:

In Necessary things Unity
In Doubtful things Liberty
In all things Charity

I have two questions:

How do I go about "unlearning" all the falsehoods and I had held as truths for 50 years?

Also, who to listen to?

The first question is easy to answer though difficult to accomplish.  I had the same problem though I only had to unlearn 40 years worth of false teachings.  Start with the basics.  Read and learn good Catholic catechisms.  Some good catechisms include the Baltimore Catechism and My Catholic Faith.  Read the history of the Church and the Crisis.  A good source for that is Tumultuous Times.  All of these can be purchased from the MIQ Center http://miqcenter.com

The second question is also easy to answer, but, I'm afraid, one will get many different answers.  I recommend contacting the CMRI.  Frankly, I believe that you'll find that group one of the few that will satisfy your realization that your last 50 years have been a lie.  http://www.cmri.org/traditional-latin-mass-directory.shtml

I would suggest making a novena to the Blessed Virgin to provide you with a good spiritual director.

I have been searching for three years, there are none. However, you can watch this docuмentary on the life of Archbishop Lefebvre that answered a lot of the questions I have been asking for decades about WHAT HAPPENED to the church and why the sheep were scattered.